Early one February morning, I follow a small convoy of cars on a gravel road just outside Prince Albert. We drive past the golf course and the town's landfill and eventually come to a stop at a seemingly empty piece of land.
Here, we're met by a petite greyhaired woman. She opens the gate to Wolwekraal Nature Reserve and we drive in and park. The sun has just risen and the morning smells of toothpaste and Karoo bossies as we all gather around and wait for an introduction from Sue Milton-Dean.
Sue is a plant ecologist. That's her formal title, but I like to think of her as a female Gandalf. She's wise, humble and giving, and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of all things to do with plants.
We're about to embark on a twohour guided walk. I live in Prince Albert and I've been on this walk a few timesnewbies. They were nudged to be here by me and I get a whiff of their scepticism. “There's nothing here,” I can almost hear them thinking. “It's barren land, dead from the drought! This is going to be …”
